Final Reflection

I think the most formative experience was being introduced to a new entrepreneurial mindset, something that I did not possess before starting this class. Yes, I had done entrepreneurial things, but I don't feel that I really looked at them from entrepreneurial point of view. Now that I've seen things from this new perspective, I think that I'll carry this with me for the rest of my career and it will affect the way I view business ideas and concepts in the future. In being honest, I don't think I had any moments in this class that could be considered "joyous," but in terms of accomplishments I'm proud of, I'm proud of the fact that I didn't give up or let my laziness prevent me from being successful in this class (for the most part).

Now that I've reached the end of the class, I honestly do believe that I have developed an entrepreneurial mindset. As I mentioned earlier, I also feel that developing this new entrepreneurial mindset is the greatest takeaway that I can think of from this class. I felt challenged by the assignments to think differently and to approach them in a way that I had never done before, and I think that it was a real learning experience.

For students taking this class in the future, I recommend coming in with a open mindset. I think that this type of mindset is the best to have when completing the assignments, especially because there will be times where students struggle to see the "point" of an assignment, and may end up not completing it as a result. I think that the open mindset will allow students to complete more assignments and to think more about the "grand scheme of things," and how the assignment may be contributing to a larger piece of the proverbial puzzle.

Reading Reflection No. 3

For this assignment, I read The Wright Brothers by David McCullough.

1. What surprised me most about this book about the Wright Brothers was the level of detail that went into detailing their personal lives and who Wilbur and Orville Wright were as people, and not just as inventors. To be honest, I knew virtually nothing about who Wilbur and Orville Wright were as people, and simply knew them as "the men who invented modern flight." The thing that I admired most about the Wright Brothers was that they, when all others doubted them, persevered and successfully became the first men to fly, a feat no one at the time thought was possible. I can't really think of any things that I'd say that I didn't admire about the Wright Brothers, primarily because they had few personal flaws that were mentioned in the book and there was nothing that stuck out to me as "bad." Considering the fact that no man had ever flown before the Wright Brothers invented the airplane, I think it's safe to say that they overcame adversity and did it in a big way because of the gravity of their accomplishments.

2. I noticed that the Wright Brothers were who they were as people because of their attitudes, work ethic, and the way they worked together as brothers to invent new things and accomplish their goals. I don't have a brother, so I don't know what it's like to have the same relationship as the what the Wright Brothers had, but I do know that they cared for each other deeply and each played to the other's personal strengths and weaknesses. Their relationship allowed them to work together to discover manned flight and become the iconic people we remember them as today.

3. The part I found to be the most confusing in the book was when the Wright Brothers, for a time, decided to not be on the planes they invented at the same time. I think that it may have been because of fear of crashing and becoming seriously injured or worse, but I think that it's hard to believe that they never flew together, even though it was *their* invention and should have been able to share in their accomplishment.

4. “What do you think air travel is like in the year 2016?”

I would ask this because I'm curious to see what the Wright Brothers would think about have far airplanes have come technology-wise in the last century. I would also ask this because I think regardless of what their answer may be, the reality in 2016 would blow them away, and it would be all thanks to them.

and

"Do you think that you would've still invented the airplane if you had gone to school for a higher education?

I would ask this because when I found out that the Wright Brothers both decided against going to college for different reasons, but were originally close to going, I wondered if they would've still tried to pursue inventing the airplane. In all likelihood, they probably would not have invented the airplane if they went their separate ways and pursued a college degree.

5. I think that the Wright Brothers greatly valued the concept of hard work, mainly because to invent the airplane, the Wright Brothers needed to work hard to invent a concept and working design of something that, at the time, was thought by the public to be impossible.

Venture Concept No. 2

1.

Opportunity 

For my venture concept, a social media consulting platform for B2B purposes, the entity that has the need (opportunity) in this instance are the businesses that currently feel that their social media status is not where they want it to be, and do not have the resources and/or experience to address said concerns internally. The nature of the need is essentially that these businesses desire to have a greater social media presence, and most likely feel that a strong social media presence results in stronger sales for their product line and/or services. The forces that currently drive the need for my venture concept are the ever-increasing presence of various social media platforms in our daily lives. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, etc. are constant reminders of just how connected our world truly is, and many companies realize this. Developing a strong social media presence is an effective, and sometimes necessary, aspect in successfully running a business today. This market cannot be defined demographically or geographically, as it is a need businesses around the world could potentially have, ranging from a small startup to a multinational corporation. Businesses are currently meeting this need if they are attempting to run a successful social media platform on their own accord, whether or not it is actually successful. I firmly believe that there is huge opportunity for my concept to succeed, as social media and an online presence will only become more important for businesses in the coming years. The "window of opportunity" closes when other companies specializing in social media consultation and services begin to saturate the market with their own products and services. As to when that may actually happen, no one can say for sure, including me. This is primarily because of the current state of our technology and the rapid advancement of the internet and social media. In the last decade alone, MySpace, a social media platform the dominated the world is 2006, has become a thing of of obscurity while Facebook, which at the time was not that popular, has become the largest social media platform in the world.

Innovation

In terms of innovation, my venture concept is incrementally innovative. My concept's services include direct consultation and solutions for businesses who desire to strengthen their social media presence, which in turn results in a stronger brand and stronger performance. Although many social media platforms exist, my concept will work with all of them, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, etc. to improve whatever it is that the company desires to improve on any or all of these platforms. Whether it be reshaping their brand image and style, or increasing the number of followers and "likes" on their posts, my concept will address these concerns. My concept operates on the revenue generated from consultation sessions and developed strategies which are then implemented and adjusted accordingly to be tailored to the specific needs of the clientele my concept works with. To elaborate on revenue, my concept makes money from charging either by the session (whether it be hour, day, or week) or a negotiated price up-front (similar to other consultation services). For example, if a business sought advice on how to increase their followers on Instagram, and what kind of posts garnered more "likes," a day's worth of consultation would cost 400 USD, or a week's worth priced at 1500 USD. Obviously, these prices would be subject to change and could vary greatly, considering the amount of possible services my concept has the potential to deliver to clients.

Venture Concept

My innovation will solve and/or address the opportunity I discussed earlier by providing a service to businesses which strengthens their social media presence on various platforms, allowing them to build their brand and generate more revenue for their respective goods and services. Businesses will purchase my concept's services when they fail to meet their own expectations or needs on their own (in terms of social media), and realize that they do not have the resources or the expertise required to achieve their desired results. These would be the main reasons businesses would purchase the service, and since they realize the need on their own, there will be little difficulty in convincing them to switch. Since our services deliver an intangible product, there would be little to no need for packaging or distribution, and location would not be a major factor. I think that my concept would first take the form of a startup, with a several key employees that previously worked in consultation and similar roles before joining the company. I think the business would be fairly straightforward until it grows into a larger company, and would not have designated roles until that time.

The three minor elements

I think the "unfair advantage" that my concept will have comes from the expertise and knowledge of the employees working for the company, sharing one vision and common attitudes and goals for the direction and purpose of the company. Honestly, the entire success of the company and concept rides on the notion and belief that my concept would actually have these people at its disposal, and would not be able to exist and thrive without them. But since this is for a class assignment, I have decided that it's not a concern since it's a hypothetical scenario. I think the thing that will make it hard to copy my company's success is its rapid development in getting to the market before anyone else and gaining a strong foothold on the clientele base. I think the next opportunity that my company would tackle is the B2A sector, where individual customers who desire social media consultation could work with our company's existing products and services to meet their individual needs. In five years, assuming this company launches, I want to be in a position where the company is successful, growing, netting a healthy profit, and expanding into new areas. I, personally, desire to be in a position where I am actively involved in other companies, along with this one, and continuing to innovate and come up with new ideas that will help improve businesses and the lives of the everyday consumer.

2.

The feedback students gave on Venture Concept No. 1 was nearly all-positive, and the commenters unanimously agreed that I had a good concept and that I had developed good ideas for the direction and purpose of the company. I received only a minor piece of constructive feedback, which stated that I should be careful when working with social media because it is a very powerful tool and changes faster than almost any other medium of communication in the world today.

3.

Based off of the feedback given, I made no changes to my original venture concept because based off of the feedback, nothing needed to be changed or altered. The only real thing that I could change based off of what others told me is possibly the mindset and the attitude with how I treat new developments to social media and the repercussions that may come with it. Other than that, I don't really feel the need to change anything from the first iteration of the concept because I think it's pretty solid as it stands.

Making it Real

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzxFo9YaovTqQ0ZGNWgwQW5PS00/view?usp=sharing

My Exit Strategy

In terms of exit strategy for my venture concept, I think it all really depends on how well the company actually performs. If the company becomes wildly successful and expands into new markets and opportunities, I would be very open to staying with the company in order to help it grow and become even larger than it already would be. However,  I would seriously consider selling the company and/or leaving in order to pursue other ventures if the company didn't perform as well as I expected it to. Additionally, if I didn't like the direction that the company was headed in, I would probably leave to take advantage of other opportunities.

Since I haven't exactly picked one particular exit strategy, I'll elaborate more on my rationale for the potential strategies that I provided above. I think that when I'm able to work in the same mindset and have the same goals as the company I work for, I'm more successful because I actually want to make a difference in the workplace. However, if my heart and/or mind isn't in line with the ideals and objectives of the company, I think that my work is negatively affected, and hinders my performance. For these reasons, I can't say for sure whether I'd stay with my company or sell it in 5 years. What I can say with near-certainty is that I don't plan on the company becoming a "family business," but depending on how the company would actually play out, it's always a possibility.

I truly feel that my exit strategy didn't affect the development of my business concept in any major way. Before this assignment, I hadn't thought about what I would actually want to do with the company in the future. That may be bad planning/foresight on my part, but it's the truth and I'm not going to deny it. Looking back, I may have influenced the development of the concept unknowingly with thoughts about the future, but I don't think that the exit strategy played a major role.

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity 

For my venture concept, a social media consulting platform for B2B purposes, the entity that has the need (opportunity) in this instance are the businesses that currently feel that their social media status is not where they want it to be, and do not have the resources and/or experience to address said concerns internally. The nature of the need is essentially that these businesses desire to have a greater social media presence, and most likely feel that a strong social media presence results in stronger sales for their product line and/or services. The forces that currently drive the need for my venture concept are the ever-increasing presence of various social media platforms in our daily lives. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, etc. are constant reminders of just how connected our world truly is, and many companies realize this. Developing a strong social media presence is an effective, and sometimes necessary, aspect in successfully running a business today. This market cannot be defined demographically or geographically, as it is a need businesses around the world could potentially have, ranging from a small startup to a multinational corporation. Businesses are currently meeting this need if they are attempting to run a successful social media platform on their own accord, whether or not it is actually successful. I firmly believe that there is huge opportunity for my concept to succeed, as social media and an online presence will only become more important for businesses in the coming years. The "window of opportunity" closes when other companies specializing in social media consultation and services begin to saturate the market with their own products and services. As to when that may actually happen, no one can say for sure, including me. This is primarily because of the current state of our technology and the rapid advancement of the internet and social media. In the last decade alone, MySpace, a social media platform the dominated the world is 2006, has become a thing of of obscurity while Facebook, which at the time was not that popular, has become the largest social media platform in the world.

Innovation

In terms of innovation, my venture concept is incrementally innovative. My concept's services include direct consultation and solutions for businesses who desire to strengthen their social media presence, which in turn results in a stronger brand and stronger performance. Although many social media platforms exist, my concept will work with all of them, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, etc. to improve whatever it is that the company desires to improve on any or all of these platforms. Whether it be reshaping their brand image and style, or increasing the number of followers and "likes" on their posts, my concept will address these concerns. My concept operates on the revenue generated from consultation sessions and developed strategies which are then implemented and adjusted accordingly to be tailored to the specific needs of the clientele my concept works with. To elaborate on revenue, my concept makes money from charging either by the session (whether it be hour, day, or week) or a negotiated price up-front (similar to other consultation services). For example, if a business sought advice on how to increase their followers on Instagram, and what kind of posts garnered more "likes," a day's worth of consultation would cost 400 USD, or a week's worth priced at 1500 USD. Obviously, these prices would be subject to change and could vary greatly, considering the amount of possible services my concept has the potential to deliver to clients.

Venture Concept

My innovation will solve and/or address the opportunity I discussed earlier by providing a service to businesses which strengthens their social media presence on various platforms, allowing them to build their brand and generate more revenue for their respective goods and services. Businesses will purchase my concept's services when they fail to meet their own expectations or needs on their own (in terms of social media), and realize that they do not have the resources or the expertise required to achieve their desired results. These would be the main reasons businesses would purchase the service, and since they realize the need on their own, there will be little difficulty in convincing them to switch. Since our services deliver an intangible product, there would be little to no need for packaging or distribution, and location would not be a major factor. I think that my concept would first take the form of a startup, with a several key employees that previously worked in consultation and similar roles before joining the company. I think the business would be fairly straightforward until it grows into a larger company, and would not have designated roles until that time.

The three minor elements

I think the "unfair advantage" that my concept will have comes from the expertise and knowledge of the employees working for the company, sharing one vision and common attitudes and goals for the direction and purpose of the company. Honestly, the entire success of the company and concept rides on the notion and belief that my concept would actually have these people at its disposal, and would not be able to exist and thrive without them. But since this is for a class assignment, I have decided that it's not a concern since it's a hypothetical scenario. I think the thing that will make it hard to copy my company's success is its rapid development in getting to the market before anyone else and gaining a strong foothold on the clientele base. I think the next opportunity that my company would tackle is the B2A sector, where individual customers who desire social media consultation could work with our company's existing products and services to meet their individual needs. In five years, assuming this company launches, I want to be in a position where the company is successful, growing, netting a healthy profit, and expanding into new areas. I, personally, desire to be in a position where I am actively involved in other companies, along with this one, and continuing to innovate and come up with new ideas that will help improve businesses and the lives of the everyday consumer.

Celebrating Failure

I failed a few times this past semester, in regard to this class specifically. Several of the assignments regarding interviews ended up not being completed, or not being completed to the fullest extent. I think the reason that I failed when attempting to complete these assignments ultimately boils down to the fact that I was very busy this summer, and I often did not take the time to plan to conduct interviews with random strangers on the street so that I could actually complete the assignment. I also think that the current area that I've been in for this summer, London, is not the location most conducive to conducting interviews with strangers for extended amounts of time. British people are often described as standoffish, and are not as readily willing to talk with a stranger, especially an American one. This combination of factors is what I believe led me to fail when attempting to complete these types of assignments.

Although I failed to complete several of the interview-based assignments, I still completed a couple of them and I learned a lot from the ones I actually did. Now that I have the opportunity to reflect on my failures, I learned that in the big picture for this class, missing a few assignments here and there aren't that big of a deal, especially when extra credit is factored in. However, I also know now that it is important to utilize time management skills when I'm assigned a lot of work in one week, and that completing them effectively and efficiently is a major key to success in this class.

I think that failure is a necessary and important part of learning and growing as a person. I used to think that failure was just a negative side-effect of improperly doing something, whether it be studying for a test, writing an essay, or losing a pickup game of soccer or football with friends. Now that I'm older, I view failure in a more positive light. Yes, I will admit that when I fail, I get disappointed and sometimes upset. However, I know that failure is learning what not to do in a situation, and it helps to make me smarter in my everyday life and the things that I do. I treat failure with respect and I know it's an important part of learning, but I still try to fail sparingly, as too much failure is a bad thing.